Eye of the Needle

By Pastor Craig R. Sicilia

Hello brothers and sisters, 

Today I am going to give a study on the eye of the needle as in Matthew 19:23, when I first became a pastor I gave this lesson.  But I taught it wrong, unknowingly but wrong.  My mistake was in the actual translation of the phrase eye of the needle.

Matthew 19:23-24 NIV

Then Jesus said to his disciples, :I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

As we look at these verses we must note the seriousness tone of the truths Christ spoke of.  Jesus felt it so important of a message he actually repeats with emphasis of its importance.  I have heard many opinions on this issue.  I have heard that it is just a figure of speech.  That it is a gate outside the city walls.  I have a problem with this, when people tell me not to take it literally.  Do I get to pick and choice which parts I take literal?  Do we rewrite the meaning of the Bible to fit the age the world is in?

I want to share a secret with you, pay close attention to what I am going to say.  Take a deep breath as you read these words. Ok, ready breath in, JESUS, means every word.  Lets look at this, He is saying that it is a fact that a rich mans entrance to heaven is hard.  Then He reinforces His statement with specifically how hard it is.  Jesus says that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than a rich man enter the kingdom of God.

You got to laugh at the guy who came up with the concept of a larger opening representing an eye of a needle.  A passage large enough to fit an unpacked camel through.  That to get a camel to hunch through an opening, comparing it to the level of difficulty that it takes to enter Heaven.  A concept allowing a tremendous amount of sin being an acceptable level to ones conscience. The danger with this concept it puts a wall between God and us.  If we accept sin we are not sorry, and if we are not sorry we do not repent by giving our sins to the Lord.  And if we do not give our sins to the Lord we cannot be cleansed in His righteousness.  Only in His righteousness can we enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Here’s the part why it is so difficult for the rich to enter heaven.  The world tells us its ok to sin.  The world standard have set the bar so low that nearly everything is accepted somewhere.  Stealing in the name of business, murder in the name of defense. We have deranged our moral concepts of accepting sin in the name of so many things; like diversity, tolerance and free speech that we have managed to almost outlaw God.

 I have had the opportunity to know many rich men.  Most treasured their money and things bought with that money.  They are exposed and can afford the most immoral things.  Women, men, pornography, drugs and many other pleasures of the flesh.  It becomes so normal and accepted that they are able to justify them not to be sins.

There is a more horrific part to this acceptance.  And that horrific part is that deep down you know it’s a sin.  And that sin becomes a wall between you and God.  It doesn’t matter if you turn away from God because you’re ashamed or rebelling.  The fact is that you are not living the life that God has intended you to live.  You cannot be forgiven for something that you are not sorry for. As this procession of events occur the wall between you and God becomes taller and wider till you forget what’s on the other side of the wall.  You forget what is truly important in life and living.

This lesson I am going to share a technique that has worked for me. Yes I combat sin constantly just like everyone else.  It is my duty to resist the temptations of the world as difficult as that can be.  When I feel sin, and we all feel it.  We know when we are sinning and we all sin.  As you develop your walk with Christ.  Your relationship with Jesus is one of communication.  I try to talk with him about it, I ask for help.  He sends me the strength I need to combat my sin every time.  All I have to do is ask for help and guidance. The difficult is asking before you commit the sin.  But with work and prayer and open communication with our Lord Jesus Christ we can conquer the sin in our lives.

We need to be right with God when he comes.  If we are wrong with God our consequences are severe.  It is a huge gamble if you spend more of your life wrong with God than right.  I see the world as a time bomb ticking down to the Day of our Lord’s return.  I know that every generation has believed Jesus coming was soon.  You just need to look around and see prophecy being fulfilled at a rate faster than ever before recorded.  The world is becoming what we have been warned it would.  The bible draws us vivid pictures of what the world is to become.

(Matt 24:6-8)

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.  Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.  There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Even if you base everything on logic, logic tells us the world is winding down.  At the Turn of the 18th century there were 1 billion people world wide, just a 100 years later there were 2 billion people, 40 years later 3 billion people 22 years later 4 billion people 16 years later 5 billion 7 years later 6 billion and now in just a little over 4 years 7 billion people. By the year 2025 some estimate our world will have 50 plus billion people.  Just the pound plus sewage per person per day the world would create has catastrophic consequences of 50 billion pounds. When you consider all the people starving now, logic tells you the world cant support that many people.

 Something has to give and that give brothers and sisters is Christ.  He will come like a thief in the night and you need to be prepared.  You need to be prepared every possible minute of every day.

 There is no room for error.  There is no second chance.  There is not going to be no debating the interpretation of Gods word.

 God’s word is Gods word, and it is what it is. 

And the Bible warns of the penalties to be given if we do change it, you can find that consequence in Revelation.

Let us look at this text in its entirety. Open your bibles to Matthew 19:16-28

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?

Why do you ask me about what is good? Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good.  If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”

Which ones? The man inquired.

Jesus replied, “ ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”

“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”

Jesus answered, if you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven.  Then come, follow me.”

When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 

Note here Jesus feels this of such importance that he repeats this and then spells it out for us.

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked,

Who then can be saved?

Jesus looked at them and said,  

 Now I want every one to pay close attention to this next truth that Jesus is about to say, this is the key to what Christ was saying. 

“With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Jesus dose not tell us with any amount of effort that we can do this.

We have told are selves that with some hard work, like un-packing a camel and having him crawl through a small opening is comparable to what it takes to enter Heaven.  We make heaven possible to obtain by our own efforts.

Here is the truth Christ says; it is as difficult as putting a camel through the eye of a sewing needle, which is literally impossible as He tells us, “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

The Richest Man

A rich landowner named Carl often rode around his vast estate so he could congratulate himself on his great wealth. One day, while riding around his estate on his favorite horse, he saw Hans, an old tenant farmer. Hans was sitting under a tree when Carl rode by. Hans said, "I was just thanking God for my food." Carl protested, "If that is all I had to eat, I wouldn't feel like giving thanks." Hans replied, "God has given me everything I need, and I am thankful for it."

The old farmer added, "It is strange you should come by today because I had a dream last night. In my dream a voice told me, 'The richest man in the valley will die tonight.' I don't know what it means, but I thought I ought to tell you." Carl snorted, "Dreams are nonsense," and galloped away, but he could not forget Hans' words: "The richest man in the valley will die tonight."

He was obviously the richest man in the valley, so he invited his doctor to his house that evening. Carl told the doctor what Hans had said. After a thorough examination, the doctor told the wealthy landowner, "Carl, you are as strong and healthy as a horse. There is no way you are going to die tonight."

Nevertheless, for assurance, the doctor stayed with Carl, and they played cards through the night. The doctor left the next morning and Carl apologized for becoming so upset over the old man's dream.

At about nine o'clock, a messenger arrived at Carl's door. "What is it?" Carl demanded. The messenger explained, "It's about old Hans. He died last night in his sleep."

Now God dose not have a problem with man being rich,

He hopes that we succeed so that His word can be spread through its means,

Here is the problem with riches for most men,

1^st and foremost the biggest problem with riches for most men, now mind you not all men,

Riches encourage a false sense of independence.  If a man has everything this world has to offer he is apt to think he can deal with any situation that may arise.

The bible tells us a vivid instance of the city of Laodicaea; Laodicaes was the richest town in Asia Minor. She was laid to waste many times by earth quakes, the bible talks about a time around 60 AD or so, the Roman empire offered to help rebuild but she said no that she could do it on her own, and she did raise from the ruins on her own to only end up a city of ruins in the end, Laodicaes did not need anyone she thought,

Her money did not allow here to overcome the challenges, only God could have, but she had no use for God, she thought she needed no one and that she could do it on her own.

That’s how it is with us, when we feel independent who don’t rely on God, and we to in the end will end up as ruins of Hell if we do not truly accept God and allow His will in our life’s.  Do not be a hypocrite and think you have any power, with man this is impossible we must rely on God in our lives.

2^nd Riches can shackle a man to this earth.  “Where your treasure is,” said Jesus, “there will your heart be also “ Matt 6:21

If everything a man desires is contained in this world, he never thinks of another world and of the hereafter.

If a man has so big of a stake here on earth, he is very apt to not think about heaven.  He focuses on all of the things that can be seen and obtained, and he forgets about all of the things that cannot be seen or obtained by him.

Here lays the tragedy for the things, which can be seen they are just temporary, and the things that you cannot see are eternal.

3^rd Riches tend to make a man selfish.  However much a man has, it is human nature to want more, for as it has been said enough is always a little more than a man has.

And once a man has obtained comfort and luxury, he always tends to fear the day when he might not have them or lose them.  Life then becomes a strenuous and worried struggle to retain the things he has.  He becomes a slave to his money. 

In today’s world we become a slave to money we do not even have, like the bank who holds the mortgage on the house we live in, the credit card companies who send you that nice monthly bill that will take you 35 years to pay if you make the minimum payment, those department store cards that bought the clothes that we are wearing.

All that is fine and dandy until it takes away the impulse to freely give things away, instead you cling to them; you have an instinct to get more things that you really don’t need anyway.  And you do this for the sake of safety and security that you think this brings.

This is my truth to you on how I sum this up, The true danger with riches is that they tend to make a man forget that he loses what he keeps here on earth, and gains what he gives away in Heaven.

 I don’t know how it works but God has the power to make all things possible, He will give you a car if it is in His will, He will make possible a House, food, clothes everything you need, not everything you want.

You think you have problems in life now, maybe your car is a piece of junk and is running held together by bubble gum, God needs you to have transportation then, tick him off and be of no use to God and see how many car problems you might have.  As extreme as that sounds God has the power of all circumstances, and we have 2 choices to work with Him or work with out Him.  It is your choice.

Jesus tells us it is impossible for us.

We cannot do it; no way no how, cannot be done by us, man

Only through God can we enter heaven,

Pearly Gates

A man dies and goes to heaven. Of course, St. Peter meets him at the pearly gates. St. Peter says, "Here's how it works. You need 100 points to make it into heaven. You tell me all the good things you've done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When
you reach 100 points, you get in."

"Okay," the man says, "I was married to the same woman for 50 years and never cheated on her, even in my heart."

"That's wonderful," says St. Peter, "that's worth three points!"

"Three points?" he says. "Well, I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service."

"Terrific!" says St. Peter, "that's certainly worth a point."

"One point? Golly. How about this: I started a soup kitchen in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans."

"Fantasic, that's good for two more points," he says.

"TWO POINTS!!" the man cries, "At this rate the only way I get into heaven is by the grace of God!"

"Come on in!" 

Brothers and sisters, don’t get so confident that you think you can make it with out God,

Don’t build a wall between you and God, keep your eyes on Jesus ALWAYS

Let us look back at Matthew,

Jesus’ looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

That’s a pretty brave question Peter asks.  Jesus could have got very upset about Peters selfish question.

Jesus said to them,  “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first

This ending is so beautiful, it tells us when we become a Christian, we enter into a new divine fellowship.

We enter into possessions of eternal life, the life, which is the very life of God.  From other things a Christian may be separated, but he can never be separated from the love of God in Christ Jesus his Lord.

Finally Jesus lays it down that there will be surprises in the final assessment.  God’s standards of judgment are not men’s, if for no other reason that that God sees into the hearts of men.

There is a new world to redress the balance of the old; there is eternity to adjust the misjudgments of time.

And it may be that those who were humble on earth will be great in heaven, and we are not talking about poor or rich but humble in Gods will and how we interact with our fellow man.  The humble will be great in heaven, and that those who were great in this world will be humbled in the world to come.

My lesson today is a very important study, first we learned that God’s word is exactly what God meant to say.  And no matter how we try to interpret it to fit our lives that dose not work.

 We can only change our lives to fit Gods word.  And when we are truly a Christian and not a hypocrite we do just that, walk the path that God has intended us to walk, regardless of the challenges we might face during our walk on our path that God has gave us to travel.

We know that it is what are hearts are made of not what we have that make us proud to God’s eyes.  Don’t let things and the quests of things bind you to this world; let the things of this world be tools to obtain the un-seen treasures of heaven and eternity.

Let are hearts focus on Jesus, not of this world.  Allow God to be instrumental in all of our life, not just the bad times but also more importantly the good times.

 For during the good times we are more able to share all of the things that God has blessed in our lives with others in Christ’s name giving him the glory, that we are to be humble stewards of His things and He will continue to bless us here but more importantly He will bless us in the hereafter.

And the most important lesson of today is that it is impossible for us to obtain any of this like finding a needle in the universe, but through Him it is all possible.  Only through Him is eternity with God a possibility.

Answer the questions below in true or false notions justifying your answers with as much detail as needed.

1. God’s word is so in-depth and so elaborate that its meanings and inspirations are designed to change as man changes.  Its design is so Devine that its significance changes with time and adapts to mans life style.

2. The words that Jesus uses are only symbolic and not meant to be taken literal.

3. With considerable effort and time and patience man can obtain heaven through his diligence and hard work.  Giving large amounts of money to help the poor will also add to your entrance into heaven.

4. Mans basic tendency is to strive for more worldly things no matter how much he has.  This can serve as a stumbling block for the majority of the people.  It puts a wall between God and man till God no longer exsists in mans eyes.

5. There is absolutely no way that man can buy his way into heaven.  There is no deed that man can do that would earn his way into heaven.  No matter how hard man tries he cannot get into heaven by any of his own doing.

1.God’s word is in depth and very elaborate but it’s meaning is to inspire man to change and its Devine meaning is that change that comes only through Jesus which adapts mans life style to fit Gods will.  Its dose not change to fit our life, this only can lead to sin.  God’s word is today as it was yesterday and tomorrow, it is the one consistent in this entire world.  Its grand design is to help man understand right from wrong and sets milestones for us to follow so that we are living the life that pleases God.

2.As in my lesson Jesus’ word is what it is, and if you do not take it literal and assume its meaning or believe that its meaning is different from the words that you read, you are making a very desperate mistake and are not truly following Jesus.  Every word that Jesus spoke was articulated just the way He desires us to understand them.  You should pay close attention to the finest detail in all of Bible as so you do not go astray from the path to heaven.

3. This is so important of an issue that Jesus repeats its significance.  He reinforces that fact that man cannot buy, beg, steal, barter, deed or talk himself into heaven.  The only way for man to get to heaven is though the grace of God from his own faith and belief in all of Gods words and works.

4.This statement is very true, as the saying enough is always a little more than a man has.  The danger is that we put more value into the things of this world making them idols than we do God.  The wall that is between man and God has been built totally by man to justify his deeds.  We think we are hiding them from God but in fact we are hiding God from ourselves.

5.This statement is accurate.  The only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ.  The reason we can get to heaven through Him is that he paid our price and only through our faith in Him and his blood and resurrection can we “man” through the grace of God enter heaven.

 By Pastor Craig